The ‘FreedomWorks’ name was derived from a common Armey saying: “Freedom works. Freedom is good policy and good politics.” [12]

On November 30, 2012, Armey resigned as chairman of FreedomWorks. Armey told Mother Jones, "The top management team of FreedomWorks was taking a direction I thought was unproductive, and I thought it was time to move on with my life." Armey stipulated that FreedomWorks was to immediately remove his name, image, or signature "from all its letters, print media, postings, web sites, videos, testimonials, endorsements, fund raising materials, and social media."[13] Armey claimed that the split was caused by President and CEO Matt Kibbe's use of FreedomWorks' resources to write a book, Hostile Takeover, which he personally profited from and which he asked Armey and the board to later acknowledge was written without significant resources from FreedomWorks; Kibbe alleged that the split was a result of competing visions for the direction of the organization.[14] The Associated Press reported that in September 2012, Armey agreed to resign by November 2012 in exchange for $8 million in consulting fees paid in annual $400,000 installments, funded by board member Richard J. Stephenson.[15][16]

Shortly following the split between FreedomWorks and Dick Armey, FreedomWorks again faced public controversy over the creation of a video featuring a panda fellating Hillary Clinton. The video was filmed with two female FreedomWorks employees in costume, one in a panda suit and one wearing a Hillary mask.[17]

FreedomWorks seeks to identify itself with two schools of thought in terms of effective advertising and marketing: the Austrian School[not in citation given] of economics and public choice theory. Through public choice theory, FreedomWorks legitimizes its mission and models itself after the Austrian School.[19]

Kibbe, a former aide to Republican Representative Dan Miller and a former staffer at the Republican National Committee, said that the group "will encourage Republicans -- and Democrats -- to take positions on issues of individual freedom." Armey said that "Ronald Reagan launched a political and intellectual revolution, and the Contract with America expanded it. Today, it’s time for the next wave. We have a rare window to make the big ideas of individual ownership and economic opportunity a political reality for all Americans. That’s the purpose of FreedomWorks."[20]

In 2011, FreedomWorks ran a number of campaigns targeted at corporate rent-seeking behavior. They campaigned against GE CEO Jeff Immelt who they argue has made GE a rent-seeking corporation.[31] FreedomWorks ran a campaign with the goal of getting Duke Energy to fire their CEO Jim Rodgers, accusing Duke Energy of lobbying for a “progressive agenda” to ensure that the company would receive green energy subsidies.[32]

In addition to their anti-rent seeking campaigns, FreedomWorks has also been active in a number of issue campaigns at the state and national levels. One of these campaigns is the school choice SB1 campaign in Pennsylvania.[33] Additionally, FreedomWorks ran an active grassroots campaign in support of Ohio Governor John Kasich's union reforms. FreedomWorks delivered thousands of yard signs, door-hangers, handouts, and registered conservative voters.[34]

In 2011, FreedomWorks launched a Super PAC called FreedomWorks for America.[35] The stated purpose of this PAC is to "empower the leaderless, decentralized community of the tea party movement as it continues its hostile takeover of the GOP establishment."[35] Its endorsed candidates included Don Stenberg, Ted Cruz, Jeff Flake, and Richard Mourdock.[36]

In February 2013, FreedomWorks signed onto a memo which said "Conservatives should not approve a CR unless it defunds Obamacare."[37] On August 14, 2013, Joshua Withrow of FreedomWorks mentioned the continuing resolution set to expire September 30 which "must be renewed in order for the doors to stay open in Washington. The CR is the best chance we will get to withdraw funds from ObamaCare. This can be done by attaching bills by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) or Congressman Tom Graves (R-GA) to the CR, which will totally defund ObamaCare."[38] Withrow also wrote "Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) are leading the charge to get their colleagues to commit to this approach, by putting their signatures to a letter affirming that they will refuse to vote for a CR that contains ObamaCare funding."[38] Withrow wrote, "Support for the Cruz/Graves bills is absolutely meaningless without also signing the Lee/Meadows letter."[38]

On February 12, 2014, FreedomWorks joined with Rand Paul as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Obama Administration concerning reports of NSA domestic wiretapping. The lawsuit names President Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander. Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is representing Paul and FreedomWorks in the case. [41]

FreedomWorks is primarily funded by individual donations. According to the progressive media watchdog groupMedia Matters for America, FreedomWorks has also received funding from Verizon and SBC (now AT&T).[47] Other FreedomWorks donors have included Philip Morris and foundations controlled by the Scaife family, according to tax filings and other records.[48][49] FreedomWorks also receives funding through the sale of insurance policies through which policyholders automatically become members of FreedomWorks.[50] In 2012, $12 million in donations from William S. Rose (via two of his companies) earned national notoriety. Watchdog groups asked for investigations of the donations, alleging that the companies were created merely to hide the identity of contributors.[51][52]

FreedomWorks is closely tied to its founder, corporate lobbyist and former Republican Congressman Dick Armey, whose former lobbying firm DLA Piper from which he resigned in August 2009, represents Bristol Myers Squibb, among other pharmaceutical companies.[53][54]

On August 14, 2009, after Armey's leadership of FreedomWorks became a problem to his employer, the lobbying and legal firm of DLA Piper, Armey was forced to resign from his job at DLA Piper. DLA Piper chairman Francis Burch responded that the firm serves clients “… who support enactment of effective health care reform this year and encourages responsible national debate."[53]

Armey disagreed with FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe's use of FreedomWorks staff for the research and promotion of Kibbe's book Hostile Takeover, which according to Armey put FreedomWorks’s tax-exempt status in jeopardy. Armey has stated, “what bothered me most … was that [Kibbe] was asking me to lie, and it was a lie that I thought brought the organization in harm’s way”.[58]